TBAY: Dead Man Walking (WAS Assassin!Snape and Karkaroff's Big Mistake)

[Cindy C.]

No: HPFGUIDX 46987

"What's going on in here?" Cindy demanded as she swung open the 
front doors to the Tavern.  "George paged me -– something about 
Assassin!Snape coming under attack.  Not 20 minutes ago I proved 
Assassin!Snape as canon fact, and now there's a *rebellion* going on 
in here?"  She marched over to a freshly scrubbed table where Charis 
and Derannimer had just ordered another round of drinks.

Just then, the Tavern door burst open and a man flung himself 
inside, banging the door shut behind himself so hard that a single 
pane of glass shattered and tinkled to the ground.  He wore sleek 
silver furs to match his graying hair, but his furs were heavily 
soiled and his hair was oddly disheveled.  He looked like he hadn't 
slept well in weeks.  He groped for the deadbolt, flipped it to the 
locked position, and turned to the business of extinguishing the 
torches that provided the only light.
 
"What do you think you're doing?" demanded George, hurrying from 
behind the bar to confront the man.  

"You must hide me!  I am in grave danger!" the man said, and Cindy 
could detect a fruity, unctuous tone despite his state of raw panic.

"Karkaroff?" Cindy asked in disbelief.  "Igor Karkaroff?"

"Yes!" Karkaroff hissed.  "You must hide me immediately.  He-Who-
Must-Be-Named has returned and he is after me.  He is going to kill 
me!"  He began slamming the window shutters closed, peering 
carefully outside as he went.  "What do you keep in the basement?" 
he asked George.

"Yellow flags, mostly."

"Good.  That sounds comfortable.  I will make my home there, then."

"Uh, Karkaroff, we were just talking about you," Cindy said, 
swinging her arm around his shoulders and guiding him to the 
table.  "Most of us are fairly confident that you're right and 
Voldemort is planning to kill you.  You rank right up there with 
Hagrid as characters who won't see the last page of OoP.  But we 
seem to be split on the means through which you will depart this 
earth.  Do you think you have a minute to help us out here?"

"Are you *mad?!*" Karkaroff breathed.

"No really, maybe you can shed some light on all of this," Cindy 
said.  "Look at it this way.  Maybe you'll learn something that will 
help you escape."

At this, Karkaroff began to stroke his goatee thoughtfully.  He 
glanced around and seemed comforted to find the Tavern filled with a 
bunch of unarmed theorists.  He took note of Avery in the corner, 
but appeared unconcerned by the presence of a fellow DE SYCOPHANT.

"What have you been discussing?" he asked eventually.  He pushed 
several empty glasses aside and eased himself into an empty chair.

"See, I have this theory that Dumbledore and Snape have cooked up a 
plan to assassinate you –-"

"Oh, lordie!" Karkaroff moaned, his head in his hands.

"No wait.  But lots of people think I'm wrong.  Charis and 
Derannimer don't think Snape will return to spying at all."

"That's right," said Charis Julia confidently.  "I don't like it as 
a plot twist. It's way less than simple. It's *obvious.* After all, 
even the most elementary, ordinary, non—obsessive readers will have 
automatically picked up on that one." 

"It's even worse than that," Derannimer added.  "*Harry* has picked 
up on that one. GOF, p. 721 'Snape had turned spy against 
Voldemort, "at great personal risk." Was that the job he had taken 
up again?'  The fact that Harry actually thinks of it also renders 
it deeply *unlikely*. If Snape was really going back as a spy, JKR 
would never have let Harry ponder the notion, and certainly not so 
prominently. I'm all with you here; Snape the Spy is a red herring."

"But see, Igor -– do you mind if I call you 'Igor'?" Cindy asked.  
Karkaroff nodded vacantly, his eyes glassy.  "I was proposing that 
the way Snape can return to spying is by capturing you and either 
killing you himself or delivering you to your evil master. Charis 
and Derannimer are thinking that if the author tells us something 
very clearly, then we shouldn't believe it.  

"I think there's a problem with approaching the fine art of canon 
predictions in that fashion.  For instance, the author strongly 
implies that Hagrid will go on a mission with the Giants, right?  
She also strongly implies that Sirius will go to Lupin.  Are you two 
saying that that won't happen in OoP because it is too obvious?"

Charis and Derannimer looked at each other, puzzled looks on their 
faces.

"No, if the author hints strongly at something in the books about 
developments in a future book, she tends to be true to her word.  
PoA is a perfect example of this.  'The Dark Lord will rise again 
with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than he ever 
was.'  And that is exactly what happened in GoF, right?  JKR doesn't 
mind telling us what will happen from one book to the next, but she 
is quite sneaky about never telling us *how* it will happen.  So the 
smart money says that Hagrid will go on some sort of mission to the 
Giants, that Sirius will round up the old crowd and Snape will spy 
for Voldemort.  The question, ladies, is whether he is going to have 
to slaughter Igor here to make it happen?"

"Slaughter? . . . Igor?" Karkaroff gulped.  He beckoned George to 
bring him a glass of vodka.

Charis Julia shook her head, her arms folded across her 
chest.  "Well, you still haven't convinced me that Dumbledore would 
do something so awful.  Since we know that Dumbledore went through 
the whole of Vold War I without resorting to his Dark Powers and yet 
*still* was the only wizard that Voldemort feared, why then should 
we assume that he could not defeat Grindewald too – who was, after 
all, less powerful— without resorting to bland murder?"

"Actually," Cindy began, "I don't think we can assume Dumbledore 
defeated Grindewald without resorting to murder.  McGonagall implies 
Dumbledore is too noble to use Dark Magic, but that doesn't mean he 
hasn't killed anyone.  There are lots of ways to kill someone 
without using an Unforgivable Curse.  You can strangle them with the 
rope trick.  Or levitate them and bash them down on their head again 
and again -–"

"I think I'm going to be sick . . . " Karkaroff mumbled.

"-- and it also doesn't mean that Dumbledore hasn't *ordered* the 
killing of anyone.  If Dumbledore was the field general in a war on 
Grindewald, then he may have ordered many missions in which the 
natural result was the murder of the enemy.  We just don't know, 
really."

"No, Snape won't kill Igor because Snape has a moral code of his 
own, you know.  My Snape would have qualms about murdering," Charis 
insisted.

"Severus Snape?  Scruples?"  Karkaroff broke in.  "The only thing 
standing between me and certain death is whether *Severus Snape* has 
scruples?  Well, that's it then.  I'm as good as dead."  

"I'm afraid I'm with Igor on this one," Cindy said evenly.  "Let's 
not forget that Snape became a DE of his own free will.  That makes 
him the only member of Dumbledore's team who has likely used Dark 
Magic and done evil things, at least for a while.  Look at it this 
way.  Snape is about to become a soldier in war.  Soldiers in war 
kill all the time on missions.  Sometimes they are sent in to ambush 
or assassinate someone.  I don't know whether they feel anything 
when they are ordered to do these things.  But they do what they 
must do.  Are you really proposing ConscientiousObjector!
Snape?  'Cause I want none of that."

"I could live with ConscientousObjector!Snape," Karkaroff 
interjected.

"Nah, I'm going with ReluctantSoldier!Snape," Cindy said.  "But I'll 
make you a deal.  You can have all the qualms you like.  I never 
said Snape would relish killing Karkaroff, so qualms are fine with 
me."

"Can we maybe stop using the words 'kill' and 'Karkaroff' in the 
same sentence?" Karkaroff said weakly.  "That's just plain rude."

Judy approached the table timidly and slipped into the last empty 
chair next to Karkaroff.  "Uh, Igor?"

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you might answer a question for me.  See, I have 
this idea that Snape doesn't have to kill you to convince Voldemort 
that he hasn't been disloyal and has in fact been spying for 
Voldemort all along."

"A theory that means Snape won't kill me?  Oh, please explain!" 
Karkaroff said, looking deeply interested.

"I think Snape could get back into his good graces by pretending to 
have been fooling Dumbledore all along.  That means that if Snape 
can just be persuasive enough, you can continue to live in hiding.  
Do you like it?"

Karkaroff twisted his upper body toward Judy, placed both of his 
hands on the side of her head, and kissed her full on the 
mouth.  "You are a goddess, madam!" he cried.  "You have saved me 
from certain death at the hands of Severus Snape."

"Not so fast, Igor," Cindy said brightly.  "There's not much direct 
canon about how Voldemort feels about Snape, but there is very good 
reason to think Voldemort does *not* in fact trust Snape in GoF.  By 
GoF, Voldemort knows Snape is at Hogwarts.  Crouch Jr. could 
certainly use all the help he could get to make sure the plan to 
kidnap Harry worked.  Yet Crouch Jr. does *not* seek Snape out for 
assistance, does he?  That means that, from Snape and Dumbledore's 
perspective, Voldemort harbors some suspicions about Snape.  They 
don't know if Voldemort is only a little bit suspicious or a lot 
suspicious, but they do know that Voldemort isn't 100% convinced 
that Snape is spying for Dumbledore."

"I'm *doomed!*" moaned Karkaroff, sliding lower in his seat.

"Yeah, I think so," Cindy said cheerfully.  "So the question becomes 
how exactly you will meet your maker, Igor.  Now, Judy here thinks 
that Voldemort will order Snape to kill you because Voldemort has 
said that his erstwhile followers will have to make up for not 
helping him during the long years that he was VaporMort. He made 
Peter prove his loyalty by cutting off his own hand. So Voldemort 
will make Snape do something awful in killing you, Igor."  

Karkaroff turned to Judy, his eyes narrowed.  "I thought you were 
trying to *help.*"

"Now me, I favor one of the Assassin!Snape variants.  Initially, I 
was going with 'The Devil Made Me Do It' –- you know, Voldemort 
orders your execution and Snape obliges.  But now I think I'm 
changing my mind.  I think I want to switch my allegiance to 'Bring 
Him In Alive.'"

"Oh, finally some *good* news!" Karkaroff sighed in relief.

"Oh, don't get too comfortable, Igor.  'Bring Him In Alive' is far 
from easy living from your perspective, but we don't have to get 
into that right now.  See, I think Snape will bring you in alive of 
his own accord, with no prior mandate from Voldemort."

Eloise wedged herself into the circle at Cindy's elbow.  "I don't 
know about Assassin!Snape, Cindy," she said.  "I mean, if *I* were 
Voldemort and this fellow Snape came worming his way back, claiming 
he's never left me and I wanted him to prove his loyalty...... would 
I send him after Karkaroff? What would that prove? Only that Snape 
was willing to kill a man against whom I could only expect him to 
hold a grudge.  Only that he would kill a man whom some of you agree 
even Dumbledore might regard as disposable."

"Disposable?" Karkaroff echoed dimly.

"That's a very good point, Eloise," replied Cindy.  "If the whole 
point of having Snape murder Igor here in cold blood is to convince 
Voldemort of his loyalty, then Snape can't simply be carrying out 
Voldemort's orders.  No, Snape has to be showing some *initiative.*  
That's important.  So Snape shows up with Igor of his own accord, 
dumps him on the ground, and is able to explain that, just as 
always, he is doing Voldemort's will even when Voldemort has not 
given him explicit instructions.  That, more than anything, will 
show Voldemort that Snape really has been in Voldemort's service all 
these years."

"It's my turn to ask a question.  What happens when I'm brought back 
to Voldemort alive?" Karkaroff asked hopefully.  "I want to know."

The other theorists all avoided Karkaroff's gaze, suddenly intrigued 
by the woodwork on the ceiling or fiddling with their clothing.  The 
awkward silence dragged on far too long.

"Maybe it's best not to discuss it," Cindy said finally.

************

Cindy

************

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